Storms with high winds rushed across four states Thursday, spawning tornadoes in Tennessee and Illinois and tossing a patrol car over a 3-foot-high fence in Indiana. At least seven people were injured.A sheriff's detective was following a funnel cloud when the winds tossed her car over the fence and dropped it upside down on a field, LaPorte County Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer said.Detective Shayna Mireles suffered a cut to her head and some bumps and bruises, he said.The sheriff said he couldn't believe the cruiser was lifted over the fence. He said, "I don't think I would have believed it unless I'd seen it."... http://www.usatoday.com

Taliban militants have seized control of a southeast Afghanistan district after a clash that killed five people, including the local mayor and his police chief, a senior official said Friday. The Taliban takeover is an embarrassment to the Afghan government and its foreign backers, and shows how vulnerable the government remains despite the presence of about 47,000 U.S. and NATO troops. Fighting elsewhere in the country on Friday left one member of the U.S.-led military coalition and five suspected Taliban dead, the coalition said. The militants attacked the Giro district of Ghazni province on Thursday evening, setting fire to several buildings and cutting communication lines, said provincial deputy governor Kazim Allayer. The district mayor and four policemen, including the police chief, were killed in a battle with the militants that lasted several hours, Allayer said. Police reinforcements have been sent to the area, said Ghazni's Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Zaman....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-27-taliban-south_N.htm?csp=34

They never saw it coming. City inspectors shut down more than a dozen psychics, astrologers and tarot-card readers after learning about a decades-old state law that bans fortune telling for profit. Inspectors did not make arrests or issue fines, "but they will if these people try to return to work," said Dominic E. Verdi, deputy commissioner of the city Department of Licenses and Inspections. Verdi said the law, on the books for more than 30 years, makes fortunetelling "for gain or lucre" a third-degree misdemeanor. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3088435

At least 17 people were killed when their troop-carrying helicopter was shot down in the volatile province of Chechnya, Russian officials said today. The incident appeared to be the deadliest single attack for over a year by Chechen insurgents. A spokesman for the Russian military prosecutor's office told Reuters: "According to our information, a helicopter came down as a result of which all those on board were killed, that was four crew and 13 troops." Russian news agencies, quoting military sources, said 18 people on board the helicopter had died. They said the Mi-8 helicopter was shot down by Chechen rebels. The military has made no official comment on the cause of the crash. The helicopter was one of three carrying troops to take part in an operation against insurgents near the town of Shatoi, in southern Chechnya, the RIA news agency quoted a source in the Russian regional military headquarters as saying....http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2067067,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

The Iraqi government has criticised the US Senate's approval of a bill requiring US troops to leave Iraq. Ali al-Dabbagh, the main government spokesman, said the decision was "negative" and sent the wrong signals to insurgents. The controversial measure makes $100bn (£50bn) in further funding for the war conditional on a withdrawal timetable. Meanwhile Democrat candidates for the US presidency urged President George W Bush not to veto the war funds bill. Mr Bush says he is committed to his "surge" strategy, under which more US troops are being poured into Baghdad. The White House confirmed he would carry out his threat to veto any version of the funding bill requiring a timetabled withdrawal. Earlier, the top US general in Iraq, David Petraeus, said reducing forces could lead to increased violence....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6598457.stm

President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed strategy Friday to press North Korea to fulfill its pledge to begin abandoning nuclear weapons. The meeting at this isolated presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains took place as some of Abe's fellow conservatives in Japan question what is seen as a softening of Bush's tactics against the North. In February, North Korea pledged to drop its nuclear weapons program but has refused to redeem that promise by shutting down its nuclear reactor. Abe's first trip to the United States as prime minister began Thursday, highlighted by dinner at the White House. Bush and his wife, Laura, walked across Pennsylvania Avenue to call on Abe and his wife, Akie, at Blair House, the guest residence for visiting foreign leaders. They strolled, four abreast, up the White House driveway for an informal dinner in the Bushes' private residence. "Nice day for a walk," the president said, although a cloudy sky threatened rain...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3088438